He was stronger than Sanji before Sanji destroyed Queen with his new power ups. There is no indication that Jinbei grew at all over the TS.
Sanji was already shown stronger than Jinbe back in Fishman Island tho?
This is why feat scaling doesn’t work. Fishman Island oda directly compared the ultimate techniques of Sanjis and Jinbes attack, and one was more devastating.
In WCI Sanji beat Yonji, someone on the same level as Jinbes Wano fight, but sanjis fight was easier than jinbes.
But because Jinbe “fought top tiers” people refused to accept this and some still do. Yamato is the same route. She got bullied by a Kaido who was holding back.
Hell, Momo did better against top tiers than her but Momo > Yamato is a silly take.
Side by side, if you look at their Speed, AP, and defenses then we can argue who wins in these categories but blanket statement like “Sanji didn’t fight a top tier yet” doesn’t make aense